


The Sidekick

by Nakira Taisho (nakirataisho)



Series: Miraculous One-Shots [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Gen, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 19:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11019987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakirataisho/pseuds/Nakira%20Taisho
Summary: Ladybug is out of town and Chat Noir doesn't get proper credit.





	The Sidekick

Chat Noir jumped through the open window of his bedroom and his transformation dropped right before he landed. He sighed in relief and went to the kitchen to get both some Camembert for Plagg and a snack for himself. As he walked through the mansion, he considered what had just happened.

It had been a regular patrol, without Ladybug. She'd warned him that she'd be out of town for a few days and she jokingly (he thought) reminded him not to burn the city down in her absence. Hawkmoth had been rather inactive, so it didn't seem like a big deal. And it was lucky that the criminal that day had been a common robber with a gun. The guy had stared at him like he was just a crazy kid in a costume when he'd broken up the robbery and shielded the hostages so they could get outside.

"Wait…," the robber had muttered when Chat charged him, aiming to disarm him with his staff. "You're Ladybug's sidekick, aren't you?"

" _Partner_ ," he'd hissed. "We're partners!" Frustrated, he'd used his cataclysm and destroyed the gun. Thus unarmed, the robber had surrendered. Chat had taken the guy to the waiting police and no one acknowledged him otherwise. The reporters didn't even seem interested that he'd saved more than a dozen people, the finances of half the city, and caught the criminal without serious incident.

He'd heard people whispering about Ladybug and wondering where she was when the one who'd saved the day was right there in front of them. He'd sighed dejectedly and gone home. On the way, he'd been delayed by a girl crying about her cat being stuck in a tree. To his surprise, she'd stared blankly at him as he handed her the cat carefully.

"Who're you?" she'd asked sharply.

"I'm Chat Noir," he sighed. Usually everyone was almost as all over him as they were Ladybug, but he guessed since Ladybug wasn't there, they lost interest.

"Oh! Ladybug's buddy!" the girl gasped. He didn't have the heart to correct her, and his ring beeped urgently, so he'd just nodded and went home as fast as he could manage. Now, he stood in the kitchen digging through the fridge to find snacks.

"I can't believe this…," he barely heard one of the employees mutter from what he assumed was across the house. Adrien shook his head and tried to ignore things he was hearing because of the cat thing. He knew there wasn't anyone else in the room with him.

He found the cheese and put together a snack for himself. He _would_ have shoved the cheese down Plagg's throat and gone to Marinette's family bakery, but they were closed for the month. But he had to deal with a thrown together sandwich. He started eating it as he went back to his room.

"Absolutely not," he heard his father say, loud enough for Adrien to think he'd come into the hallway and spotted him with the sandwich. He whirled, hiding his food and about to make an excuse about the snack. "Even if I allowed my work to be in a department store, you wouldn't be able to afford my fee," Gabriel continued. Adrien blinked in surprise, not seeing his father.

"He must be in his office…," he groaned, taking stock of his location in the house. His father's office was near enough that it was reasonable that he'd mistaken the distance. He sighed in relief and listened for a second.

"I do, however, know an upstart designer you could ask. Of course she's talented," his father griped. "I wouldn't recommend someone for this particular proposal if she didn't have talent. Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, of the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie." Adrien smiled a little, surprised that his father would praise someone like that. He continued to his room and sat at his computer. He opened the Ladyblog out of habit.

No updates, which wasn't surprising. Alya was camping with Marinette, so she'd probably left her phone at home. He shook his head and went to the news station's website. He smiled a little when he saw the headline. _Chat Noir saves dozens in hostage situation during robbery at Bank of Paris_ , the page read. He hit play on the video.

"We've heard gunfire," Nadja Chamack said on the video. "Ah! There's Chat Noir going into the building from the second floor. That means Ladybug can't be far behind."

"Has anyone _seen_ Ladybug for the last three days? She and Marinette went on vacation at—" He cut himself off.

"The same time?" Plagg finished for him.

"Y-Yeah…but plenty of people are on vacation this week," he argued, as if Plagg had implied that he thought that _Marinette_ of all people was Ladybug. Plagg hadn't, but he'd considered it himself.

"I didn't say anything."

"I know…," he sighed, turning his attention back to the video. The camera caught gunfire and he recalled batting the bullets away with his baton as he approached the robber. The door to the bank opened and the hostages rushed out into the waiting arms of family and first responders.

" _Where_ is Ladybug?" Nadja muttered. As the gunfire stopped, a banner flew across the bottom of the screen reading _Saved by a sidekick_. Adrien flinched. Of course they would see him as her sidekick. In the video, Chat walked the robber out by the arm, his disappointment and frustration clear on his face. Rather than move to interview Chat, Nadja went to talk to the victims and the police.

Adrien closed out the window in his browser and sighed heavily. Plagg landed on his head and rubbed his hair in a rare gesture of comfort. He stared at the background of his mother and leaned back.

"You and Ladybug are partners," Plagg muttered. "Not a hero and her sidekick."

"I know. But it still hurts that Ladybug and I seem to be the only ones who see that…," he sighed. "Wonder what my dad was gonna pass off on Marinette…"

"Who cares?" Plagg groaned.

"She's my friend, Plagg…I can be curious…," he snapped, waving Plagg off his head. He opened the internet again, but everything on any feed he went to was about Ladybug being missing and her _sidekick_ picking up the slack. "And I'm not going to get _any_ of this summer homework done at this rate!" He clicked the window closed and went to his bed, dropping unceremoniously onto it. "Is it too much to ask for a bit of recognition?!" he groaned.

He looked at his ring and spotted a black butterfly coming into his room from the corner of his eye. He frowned and started thinking positive thoughts, trying to ward it off. _Ladybug_ appreciated him and that's what mattered for him as Chat Noir. He had friends besides Chloe. Nino had tried his hardest to get him a birthday party, and even akumatized, that's all Bubbler had wanted, to give _Adrien_ a birthday he'd remember. He'd run off on Christmas and everyone in his class except for Chloe had rushed to try and find him. Ladybug had attacked Santa because she thought he'd been under attack and she was too stubborn to think.

"Not happening, Hawkmoth!" he shouted at the butterfly. "The only way you're getting me to fight her is if you send another brainwasher or puppeteer after me!" He didn't _need_ recognition from anyone but Ladybug. He was able to do good as Chat Noir and being a hero was its own reward. The butterfly retreated and he sighed in relief. "You…think he knows who I am?"

"After this, probably…," Plagg muttered, floating to the open window. "But that was _too close_ for comfort…with her out of town, who knows what she'd come back to if you'd been akumatized…"

"Yeah, I'd rather not think about it…and I guess it got to me more than I thought." He stared at his ceiling. "Please come back soon, Ladybug…"

**Author's Note:**

> This hasn't been asked, but no I don't like the idea of Miraculous holders being immune to becoming villains thanks to Hawkmoth. Also hit me up on tumblr [@sorcerymuses](http://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com).


End file.
